Killing Grounds
by TheZombieKing
Summary: With a planetary withdrawel in order, Brother Captain Artonis and the rest of the Blood Ravens prepare to retreat. But when he finds some amiss with the 34th Vencellis Rifles, the Space Marines pull some overtime to investigate the matter.


Author's Note: I've been a big fan of Warhammer 40k for some time now, but this is the first fanfic I wrote for the universe. So please review! And if you find any inconsistencies with my story and the 40k universe, do tell me! I want to keep my 40k fictions as accurate as possible. I hope you enjoy, read on.

**Killing Grounds**

Brother-Captain Artonis knew they were losing this battle. His battle-brothers of the Blood Raven Chapter were fighting and dying in the fields below, beginning their fighting retreat along with the 34th Vencellis Rifles . He longed to be down there with his brothers, but Colonel Heltzman insisted he stay and plan the retreat, along with their next move.

Artonis did not like the colonel, as he seemed to the Space Marine as a coward, one who would rather hang back and let his men do the fighting rather than bloody his own hands. He generally carried himself with an air of calm and authority, but the seasoned Captain could see that the Colonel was nervous now, worried that he would die at the hands of these xenos.

Artonis was not worried about such things, turning his attention back to the gently sloping hill, noting with some irritation that their combined forces were getting pushed back faster than expected. His visor zoomed in to watch Brother-Sergeant Lockin slay a greenskin with his chain-blade, before waving his squad back to the cover of some rocks, firing his bolter behind him with thinly veiled contempt.

"Captain Artonis," the Colonel said behind him, trying to get his attention from the command tent. Artonis slipped in the small doorway, having to hunch to fit into the tent that was obviously fashioned for normal humans rather than the Emperor's Finest.

Before Heltzman was a small portable holo-projector, which was being prepared to be broken down by the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Servitors moved back and forth, carefully removing items from the command tent before transporting them to a waiting Chimera.

"General Hjara has ordered us the complete withdrawal of our forces here on Gartten." Colonel Heltzman said in a very conversational manner, "The rally point is here," He pointed to a place roughly forty kilometers from their current position, "where we will leave on awaiting transports that will take us to orbit. I assume you shall be withdrawing here most promptly?"

Artonis didn't bother answering the question. "So we are abandoning this world to the Orks?" he asked, not hiding the contempt in his voice.

"The General's message said that a Tyranid hive fleet has been spotted on the Eastern Fringe. They are mustering all the forces they can to attempt to repel it. I have been told that this planet… this planet is a tolerable sacrifice for now."

The space marine and the Colonel stepped out of the command tent as it was being broken down for transportation, along with the holo-projector. The first trickles of Imperial Guard were now reaching the top of the hill, and moving towards the Chimeras.

"Three years." Heltzman sighed, "We've been fighting for this damn agri-planet for three years, and now we have to give it up," He shook his head in disgust, "only to go fight something far more terrible," he added, barely suppressing a shudder.

Brother-Captain Artonis said nothing, staring down at the fields.

----

It was several more hours before the last of the Rifles had retreated, leaving rearguard duties to a handful of Leman Russ tanks and a few Hydras AA guns. As they plethora of vehicles began to make a convey, Brother-Chaplain Kilea made it up the hill with a handful of Space Marines, their armor scarred and dented from the fierce fighting.

"I see we are withdrawing, Brother-Captain?" the Chaplain said in a half-question.

"Indeed," Artonis responded, staring into the skull-helmet of the Chaplain, "gather the men, I have Rhinos on the way. We will join up with the Guardsmen on their withdrawal."

The Chaplain nodded and took a few seconds to order the retreat over the vox, before turning his attention back to the Brother-Captain, "Surely the Imperial Guard can handle themselves? They may be weak, but they are many and have the Emperor's guidance. We also have the Thunderhawks, which will make our travels much faster. "

"That is my thoughts exactly."

The Chaplain shifted in his suit as a squad of terminators lumbered up behind him, "What is it you mean, Brother-Captain, do you think something is amiss?"

"Indeed, where is the closest held spaceport?"

Kilea motioned to the east, "Twenty-three kilometers that way, Brother-Captain."

"Then why are the 34th Vencellis heading forty kilometers to the south?"

For this, Brother-Chaplain Kilea had no answer.

----

For nearly an hour the Space Marines followed the Imperial Guard, attempting to keep several kilometers between the two groups, but close enough to keep them on the auspex, despite the chance that the Guards might pick them up on their own.

The Blood Ravens watched with growing dismay as the sky prematurely darkened and the lush fields of Gartten first began to wither in shades of brown and grays, until they died out completely, leaving the ground dark and lifeless. Not even dust was being kicked up by their vehicles any longer.

"This place is tainted," the Librarian Hatsmar growled, his eyes staring at the metal walls of the Rhino.

"Chaos…" Artonis breathed.

"Let us hope that is not the case, Brother-Captain. The Emperor protects."

All the Space Marines present repeated the saying, making the sign of the aquila over their breastplates.

"They've stopped." A techmarine informed Artonis, gazing down at the green-lit screen of the auspex.

"No turning back," Artonis growled, before turning on his comm-link, "Prepare for battle, Blood Ravens."

He checked his bolter and chain-sword, slapping a fresh clip into the gun. Around him his battle-brothers began their own rituals, Kilea had his head bowed, praying. The Librarian simply sat there, his war hammer and plasma pistol laid across his lap. The other eight marines in the Rhino performed rituals similar to their Brother-Captain, clamping on helmets and checking their weapons.

Artonis pulled on his own helmet, twisting it slightly and listening to the familiar hiss as the suit latched to his helmet, making a self-contained environment. His visor flipped on before him, and he checked the multitude of settings that would allow him to survive nearly any environment.

Nearly four thousand Guardsmen to his forty Space Marines. He closed his eyes and prayed for the Emperor's guidance, and that if he should fall in battle, let his death be a worthy one.

Artonis opened his eyes as the Rhino lurched to a halt and the driver glanced over his shoulder, "They're just over this hill, Brother-Captain, proceed?"

"No, wait here incase we need fast extraction."

The driver nodded and punched a rune, dropping the Rhino's ramp with a dull hiss of pneumatics. Artonis waved his squad on, and stepped down as the rest of the Space Marines followed down.

"Squad Randis, left flank. Squad Fheanis, right flank. Squad Likoar and Squad Bvenera, with me, Formation Vecearr."

The sergeants of exact squad responded accordingly and the Blood Ravens began their dispersal, carefully making their way up to the crest of the hill.

"Dear God-Emperor…" Brother-Chaplain Kilea whispered as they came to the top of the hill to look down on the abomination before them.

In the middle of the field rose up an organic tower, its surface covered with blood, bone, and decaying flesh. Around it waged a battle unlike one Artonis had ever seen. There were Imperial Guards fighting hell-spawn that came from the fleshy ground around the tower, along with Guardsmen attacking their brothers-in-arms with an animalistic fever. The Brother-Captain watched as blood was spilt on the ground, only to be absorbed by tentacle-like appendages that grew from the cursed tower.

"We cannot let this… thing, exist." Brother-Chaplain Kilea growled.

"Agreed." He looked around him at his assembled Space Marines, "For the Emperor! For the Blood Ravens! ATTACK!" He bellowed, before charging down the hill towards the raging battle ahead.

Artonis saw as Guardsmen fleeing turned to continue the attack once laying eyes on the Emperor's chosen. They let out a cry as one unit, those that could, and began to fight harder to bring honour to their regiment and glory to Emperor's armies.

A winged creature threw itself at Artonis as he threw himself into the battle, and he promptly cut it down with his chain-blade, before shooting a skittering corpse-thing with his bolter, blowing it apart.

Next to him, a Guardsman was gutted with the bayonet of another Guard. As the two fell to the ground, the attacker continued to stab the body with a sadistic glee, even after his once-fellow Guardsman was dead. Artonis swung his blade against the back of Guardsman next, and its blood spurt from his neck as the headless body collapsed on top the other.

He glanced down at the head that continued to spasm, its eyes darting back and forth. He noted the eyes had gone from a normal human's to those filled with a blood red, with only the faintest outline of the pupil still showing.

Artonis turned and ducked as a creature as tall as him came forward with a bone-sword fused into its arm. He stepped up under its arm and past it, dragging his sword through its torso. The thing slid apart into two halves, its legs still standing as the Space Marine moved on.

A laser bolt glanced off his shoulder pad, leaving a scorched groove in its wake. Artonis looked at a commissar who had shot him with his laspistol, noting with dismay the blood eyes that looked back at him, a snarl on its face. The Brother-Captain shot him dead.

"Brother Hatsmar!" Artonis cried as he saw the Librarian racked with spasms, his gaze locked onto the flesh tower. Guardsman and abomination alike seemed to give the pskyer a large berth, even in the midst of close combat.

Artonis began to approach the Librarian until he was attacked by a feral Guardsman, which he dispatched with a stab through the torso. It gave him a stupid look as the blade's teeth grinded it's insides to a pulp, before Artonis slung the Guardsman off.

Before the Blood Raven reached the Librarian, Hatsmar turned his head to look at Artonis, his skin breaking out into boils, blood seeping from his eyes and ears.

"Blood…"

Artonis raised his bolter.

"FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

The Space Marine was flung off his feet as the Librarian attacked him with a physic wave, and he slid back several feet on his back, leaving a deep groove in the ground. He fired several shots at the possessed Librarian whilst on the ground, to no avail. They simply were disintegrated against the Librarian's field.

Artonis parried the claw of a hunched creature that lacked skin, and shot it through the rat-like face before turning back to the Librarian. The pskyer was slowly approaching him, almost at a leisurely pace, only stopping when an Guardsmen attempted to attack him. He waved dismissively at him, at the Guardsman's arms ruptured in a gory mess, leaving the poor soul flopping around and screaming in pain.

"Such power I never knew, Brother Artonis," The Librarian whispered, his eyes transfixed on the Blood Raven, "I have tasted by a drop of true power and it is magnificent. I am no longer a slave of a corpse king. I am truly free!"

"The Emperor is the true god, Hatsmar. No power is greater than he." Artonis snarled, thumbing the activation stud on his chainsword.

"Such simple-minded devotion…" The Librarian smiled, "Like a dog."

"Burn, Heretic!" Brother-Chaplain Kilea cried, swinging his power-mace at the cursed pskyer from behind.

Hatsmar turned with an in-human haste, but not before the power-mace slammed down against the Librarian's shoulder guard, tearing it off along with his right arm. The plasma pistol dropped to the ground, still in the grip of the Librarian's dismembered hand.

The pskyer's massive hammer came around, just barely missing the Chaplain as he used his momentum to pull himself forward into a roll under the Librarian's arm, coming up into a swing his mace at Hatsmar's back. The Librarian turned and blocked with his hammer, locking the two weapons into a deadly duel of strength.

The Chaplain growled at Artonis, "Brother-Captain! Find the traitor Heltzman!"

"The Emperor protects!" Artonis called out, before disappearing into the battle around them, fighting his way through.

----

"Your Emperor is not here to protect you, Chaplain." The Librarian snarled into Kilea's face, his teeth beginning to transform into a jagged, twisted parody of his old set.

The hammer shifted, forcing the Chaplain down closer to the ground. He risked pulling a hand from the shaft of his power-mace, and gritted his teeth as the hammer shifted closer to him.

"The Emperor will guide me to bring swift vengeance upon you, even at the cost of my own life. I do not fear death!"

The Librarian looked down at the plasma pistol at their feet, just as the Chaplain overloaded it. The pskyer's eyes widened.

"No-!"

The blast obliterated them both instantly.

----

The base of the Chaos tower.

Artonis could feel the malicious energy flowing from it, attempting to pull him into its dark embrace. He focused on his objective and quietly recited the litanies he had learned over the centuries of service.

"Traitor." He growled.

Colonel Heltzman was staring up at the tower, oblivious of the battle raging around him, before turning to the Blood Raven with a deep frown, "Traitor?"

"Yes." Artonis said simply, raising his bolter at the Colonel.

Heltzman let out a sigh, his shoulder slumping, "All I wanted to do was purge this world of the Orks. To give some validation to the all the men who have died defending this world. Thousands, all for nothing… They whispered in my ears, the daemons, telling me that it could be done, all I had to do was turn bring my men to the Blood God. With the power of Chaos, we could retake this world in a matter of weeks! No, days!"

"Do you really believe that having righteous intentions makes it right to conspire with the Ruinous Powers?!" Artonis snarled, taking a step forward.

The colonel chuckled bitterly, "No, of course not. I should have known this would happen. I was just… I was just trying to remember everyone who has died for this war. No one else will." He paused for a moment, his eyes distant, "The galaxy is a harsh place."

He added, before pulling his laspistol from his hip holster and blowing his brains out.

----

Brother-Captain Artonis watched through the observation deck as the _Righteous Fury_ fired its orbital cannons, obliterating the abysmal tower and the daemons along with it. An apothecary wandered to Artonis's side.

"I thought you would like, Brother-Captain, to know were managed to retrieve the gene-seeds of all the fallen save for two."

"Brother Kilea and Brother Hatsmar?" Artonis asked without turning.

"Yes."

"Thank you."

The apothecary saluted before excusing himself, once again leaving Artonis alone on the deck. Two more Blood Ravens that would never be passed on to a new generation. They had forever died in the service of the Emperor.

Did that mean they were forgotten? No, as long as the Chapter and the Imperium carried on, they would be remembered as heroes.

"Of course the galaxy is a harsh place, Colonel," he whispered, "There is only war."

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Orks, Space Marines, Blood Ravens, The Emperor, its affiliated companies, talent or basically anything related to this universe save for the characters. So don't sue me, I'm poor. 


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